A quest to visit every restaurant in town in search of the best lunch; and its best coffee shops.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Brasserie L'Ecole

No. 43

Dinner review (no lunch service)

<2010-07-10 Sat>I am a regular. I strongly believe it is one of the best restaurants in town, and it is not too expensive.

This is a restaurant that you can pass by and not know it is there. It used to be surrounded by two Chinese convenience stores (now only one). It is in a location where you do not expect a French restaurant.

Unfortunately it does not open at lunch time, and recently stopped accepting reservations. This means that you have to arrive at opening time (5:30) if you want to make sure you get one. We were there at 20 minutes before opening and there was already a group of 6 in front of us. They told us they had come another day, and waited in line just to find they were just behind the last people to get a table.

What does this mean? First, that you have to plan to either arrive early, or wait until a table empties. My understanding is that, after service starts, you can drop by, give your name and a phone number and they will call you (expecting you to be somewhere in the vicinity and quickly to come to claim your table). Second, that if a restaurant that does not take reservations gets full as it opens its doors, thatprobably means quality. And it does. Every meal I had there, I have been very satisfied. The food is always delicious, and the service is some of the best in town.

We had 2 appetizers and 3 entrees and the bill was 100. And we were full. We couldn't eat dessert. I had the onion soup, which is always delicious, and mussels + fries. The mussels are a classic (along the steak) and they offer 3 variants. I can't recall which one I ordered, but they were delicious, too.